While we were al busy getting knickers in twists over section 3.3.1 of the new iPhone developer agreement, Apple hoped to sneak another, possibly more far-reaching change past us. All Things Digital, however, got hold of section 3.3.9, which could effectively kill all third party ad networks - granting an insurmountable advantage to Apple's own iAd network.

Mafia protection rackets are supposed to protect you from bad things. Good. But they subject you to the Mafia's enforcement of it's monopoly on bad things. Not good.

I think the fundamental issue here is that if all these rules were consistently enforced, then yes, no app could share this data unless that was expressly the purpose of the app (Geo-Location Coupon App).

But as we know, Apple doesn't consistently enforce it's own rules, so we certainly EXPECT Apple-approved apps to violate the "good" parts of 3.3.9 while getting their written consent to share device data, e.g. in concert with iAd. We already know Apple works like that and don't consistently apply their rules across the board, but uses them like New Orleans ordinances against "manhandling a sandwich" to target those outside Apple's circle of interests.

p.s. Nobody has commented on the name of the article's author yet: Peter Kafka? :-)